Girls from da Hood 13

by Ms. Michel Moore

  I was relieved. Everything was playing out the way I wanted it to. “It’s always gonna be like that, baby. No matter what is popping off in the streets, you’re always gonna be my first priority. You and Alexis.” Interrupted by my phone vibrating, I rushed to pull it out of my pocket. “What’s the word, nigga?” It was Jerell, so I knew he was calling about business.

  “It’s time to make a move,” he spoke in a low tone.

  “Say no more,” I responded, then disconnected the call. “Hurry up and get dressed, Moni. Jerell has eyes on Naughty. It’s time to find out what has been said and what to expect.”

  “That bitch better be able to prove she didn’t snitch like Felix, or I’m icing her without anyone’s approval. There’s not a soul on this earth who is gonna keep me from marrying you.”

  Trying to talk sense into Moni or getting her to calm down was pointless. The vicious look in her eye was easily recognizable, because I usually looked the same way when I was ready to attack. When either of us got into the mindset that someone needed to get it, no one could stop us. That was the bottom and final line.

  * * *

  The drive to Naughty’s apartment wasn’t tense nor were we sitting in silence. The radio DJ was spinning a mix of Detroit artists that had us both in the zone. Plus each of us was puffing on our own blunt. I guessed both of us were feeling good about finding out what popped off with Naughty at the police station.

  “There’s Jerell’s hoop ride. I’m about to call him, ’cause he must be up in the apartment with ol’ girl.”

  Naughty

  My wrists were sore from the cords ol’ boy used to restrain me. I could barely breathe since my mouth was taped shut daring me to whimper. And I was sure I was getting ready to go into cardiac arrest from my heart pounding a million beats per second. I was extremely terrified. I didn’t want to die. I wasn’t ready to see Felix or my lost loved ones or meet my Maker. Closing my eyes, I prayed hard for God to have mercy on me by allowing a way out.

  The crazy dude answered his phone. “Yeah, it’s clear to come up.” He was short with whoever he was talking to, who was probably Voodo.

  Sixty seconds later, there were a few light taps on my door, and then the crazy dude opened it up. Although I wasn’t a snitch, I was hoping it was the cops so I’d be saved. My luck wasn’t that great. In walked Voodo and Moni. Even restrained, with fear pumping through my veins, I took notice of the humungous rock on her finger. They must’ve hit a helluva lick since the other night. Before I could close my eyes again to pray, Moni stormed over to where I was, damn near slapping me unconscious.

  “We saw you walking with the cops. I’m gonna give you only a few seconds to tell me all about it and what you said before I leave your ass dead. If you scream, those seconds will be voided, and I’ll leave a bullet in your dome.” Snatching the tape from my mouth, she put the gun to my head, daring me not to believe her words.

  “I didn’t tell them anything, I swear,” I wheezed, happy to at least be able to breathe easier. “They’d been pounding on my door since Felix got killed, finally forcing me to answer. I only went because they were acting like I was under arrest. Yet when I got down there, they didn’t have shit but some hearsay from some other dancers.”

  “Yeah, the fuck right.” Moni put one in the chamber of her gun. “Just like I’m made for my nigga, you were made for yours. Two motherfuckin’ snitches.”

  I saw my life flash before my eyes. All the dancing, hustling, and tricks I pulled were about to be over. I could feel it. “Please no, don’t kill me. I promise I didn’t say anything.” I begged for my life. “I know Felix was snitching, but that type of shit don’t run in my blood. I was just using him for his cash. That was it.”

  “Whoa, baby, slow down.” Voodo walked up behind her, putting his hand on her waist.

  My life was worth fighting for so I begged even more. “I know the shit don’t look good, but I swear on everything I didn’t talk. The last thing I want is to end up in a body bag. Think about it for a second. They’re gone, and I’m not in witness protection. I won’t lie and say y’all two don’t terrify me, ’cause I’ve heard of how y’all get down. I wouldn’t have snitched and come back here. Please believe me!”

  “I caught the bitch just as she was getting ready to run out the door with her luggage,” the crazy dude spoke up, making me seem slightly guilty.

  Voodo had gotten Moni to calm down at first, but because of the words the crazy dude had spoken, she was back amped. “Oh, really? You were about to shoot a move out of the city?” Laughing like a crazy woman, she rubbed the gun against my lips with a cold look in her eye. “I should put this bullet down your throat, silencing you forever.”

  Afraid to speak and set her off, I couldn’t sit in silence knowing I was innocent. I hadn’t done anything to deserve to be murdered. I’d been loyal to them, although I should’ve been loyal to my man. My pleas continued. “Only because I was trying to get the hell out of Detroit before the cops tried badgering me again. If they know anything about the murder and y’all being responsible for it, they didn’t get that information from me. Hell, I don’t even know for sure if y’all took Felix and his boys out.”

  Tears were streaming down my face as I tried rationalizing with them. I couldn’t tell if they were believing me, though. Moni’s expression was menacing, Voodo looked deep in thought but not about sparing me my soul, and the crazy dude looked like he was ready to strangle the life from my body with his bare hands. If this was the end for me, it was a sad way to go. I could only imagine how Felix and his crew suffered.

  Officer Hubbard

  “What in the hell do you mean you let her go?” Captain Williams was screaming at the top of his lungs. Slamming his fists on his desk, enraged, both my partner and I slid our chairs back to avoid the stuff that was falling. “Please tell me why you let her walk out of this station without charges. You know that woman was lying through her teeth and withholding information.”

  “We kept her for hours, sir, but she wouldn’t break. In addition to that, she brought up the point that we’d failed at our job of protecting Felix since he was our informant. And honestly speaking, boss, we did. We couldn’t hold her without any evidence,” I spoke up, knowing he wasn’t going to accept my answer easily.

  “Tell me one thing, if you don’t mind. Why in the fuck do you have a badge if you can’t throw around your power? All I see before me are two punk-ass cops scared to go hard and get the evidence we need to find out who killed those men. I don’t care that we dropped the ball on protecting Felix. As far as our trail of paperwork says, we did. So the only thing left for y’all to do is to bring the killers in. Why in the fuck is that so hard?”

  “Because no one wants to talk. We’re lucky Felix wanted to sell the folks out in his hood. There’s not many cats on his level willing to take a risk like that for obvious reasons,” my partner, Richard, spoke up. “People from the hoods of Detroit like to handle matters without the police being involved. They don’t trust us, because they fear we’ll arrest them for anything they’ve got pending on their head. They don’t believe in our skills to protect their lives. And with so much police brutality going on across the globe, it’s us versus them in their minds.”

  “Thanks for your speech, you piece of shit, but you’re not enlightening me. I’m well aware how those bums feel, but I just don’t give a fuck. Now instead of being in here feeding me crap about not being able to do your jobs, get out there to find who killed our informant. Make the first stop his girlfriend’s house. Your job is to escort her into this station with her wrists in handcuffs. Maybe a little time in a cell with hardcore murderers will make her talk.”

  “What will we bring her in for, boss?” Questioning him although I knew he was irate, I wasn’t trying to lose my badge by arresting Nina under false pretenses.

  “I swear y’all are getting transferred after this case, because y’all are dumb and not worth the hassle. If that woman won’t tell us wha
t happened to Felix, she was in on it. Bring her in as the lead suspect of the case. Now get the hell out of my office before I fire y’all asses right here and now!”

  Despite me wanting to punch the captain in his throat for talking to me like I was less than a man, I got up to follow his orders. I needed my job. With a family to feed at home, there was nothing else I could do. My partner, however, had other plans.

  “Yo, Williams, fuck you and this job. You ain’t gotta transfer or fire me, because I quit. If you want that trick brought in or this case solved, you better get out from behind your desk and do it yourself. I’m out. It’s been real, Hubbard.” My partner of two years threw his badge on Captain’s desk, gave me dap, and slammed the door on his way out.

  Chapter Eleven

  Moni

  Voodo had proposed. In spite of the how he’d gotten the engagement ring, it was sitting on my finger as a symbol of his love and loyalty to me. Not only did he truly have strings to my heart, but I had them to his as well. In a few months, I wanted to give up my last name and become his Mrs. James. The thought of having a white princess wedding dress, Alexis as the flower girl, and him waiting for me in front of a preacher to recite our vows made me melt. It didn’t matter if our relationship wasn’t written as a fairy tale, it was our story and I wanted to create sequel after sequel until death found my soul. With dreams so big, I couldn’t let Naughty spoil them. She had to go.

  “Please, you’ve gotta believe me.” Her voice annoyed me. I regretted even taking the tape off her mouth.

  I didn’t believe her. And even if I did, I couldn’t give her the chance to go snitch now that we’d run up in her apartment, threatening her life. If she didn’t know for a fact that we were responsible for Felix’s and his crew’s deaths, she knew now. Plus, we’d made things more personal with Naughty by holding her hostage within her own apartment. I’d never be comfortable with knowing a bitch on the streets held guilt over my head. There was only one thing to do. “If you haven’t made peace with your sins, I’ll see you in hell.” My words were concrete. My mind was made up, and there was no turning back. I swiftly handled my business.

  “Oh, shit, Moni!” I could tell in Voodo’s voice that he was shocked by my decision to shoot Naughty.

  Standing in front of Naughty’s now-slumped body, I waited to see if I’d feel an ounce of regret for sending two bullets into her neck, but I didn’t. If either Voodo or I had gone to jail over her giving the cops any information, I would’ve spent my days looking to gun her down or counting down the days of my sentence so I could gun her down. If anyone else wanted to test us or try taking away the life I wanted with Voodo, they’d end up with the same fate.

  “Give me the gun, baby.” Voodo slid the weapon from my hands. “I can’t believe you iced her out like that.”

  “Fuck taking a chance, baby. Like I told you at the room, I’m not letting her or anyone ruin what we’re trying to build. It’s us versus everybody.”

  “That rock has made you crazier than you were before.” He laughed lightly. “Come on, though, we’ve gotta get out of here before the cops come. I know someone had to have called them after hearing those gunshots.”

  Jerell untied Naughty’s body from the chair she was tied down to, threw her over his shoulders, and ordered Voodo to grab the used cords because his fingerprints were on them. Questions didn’t need to be asked about what Jerell was doing. We both knew he was cleaning up as much evidence as he could. The job we’d pulled on Naughty was messy. Me murdering her made it worse.

  The small hallway of the floor her apartment was on was quiet, but that didn’t mean no one was peeping out their peepholes or hadn’t heard the shots fired. I’d killed a witness, but we were making a few more in the process of trying to get rid of her. At this point, my decision was starting to seem a bit too rash. Hopefully, my impulsiveness hadn’t fucked us in the game, because it was too late to go back in time.

  Officer Hubbard

  It felt weird having the captain ride shotgun with me out on duty. We weren’t supposed to be working the streets side by side. My job was to take orders from him and report about my progress or lack thereof. But Richard had shocked us both by saying screw the police force. With no partner but an open investigation, I was stuck with the man who’d help the victim become a target in the first place. As we rode in silence toward Nina’s apartment, her words and Richard’s speech were the only things on my mind. My honor to the badge and my oath were starting to seem irrelevant and nothing but a heap of bullshit. At this point, all I was protecting and serving was my dickhead boss.

  “Gunshots reported at 2407 Glendale Drive, unit 2M. We need a squad car to follow up.”

  The captain didn’t pick up on the address as quickly as I did, probably because I’d been working this case and sitting on Nina’s property waiting for movement for days. While he looked on, oblivious and uncaring, I responded to the operator sourly. I knew it was time to prepare for the worst. “One-two. This is Officer Hubbard. Captain Williams and I will respond.”

  “What the fuck, Hubbard? We’ve got a mission. Let some other cops get on their jobs,” he snapped. “I ain’t got time to be out here playing in the field with a whole squad to manage.”

  Ignoring him while I flipped my siren on, I pulled my gun from its holster so I’d be prepared the instant we arrived. “That address belongs to Nina Carter, boss. You might want to start familiarizing yourself with the case you want solved so badly.”

  Voodo

  There was nothing else I could do but blame myself for how things were unraveling. I wasn’t the one who’d put the two bullets into Naughty, but I hadn’t been smooth or quick enough to talk Moni up out of it, either. Not calming her down before leaving the hotel was my first mistake. Then not taking total control over the situation once I noticed she was leading with emotions was the second. Matter of fact, I should’ve let Jerell take care of cleaning up the dirty work altogether.

  Me wanting to judge for myself if Naughty snitched was the reason things had gotten so sloppy. I wasn’t emotional or regretful over her death. I was pissed that all three of us now had more monkeys on our back. If anyone in that apartment saw our faces, that could only add up to more bullshit for us to deal with. In trying to fix a problem, we’d been creating more.

  Jerell dropped Naughty’s dead body into his trunk like she was lightweight luggage, then slid into the driver’s side of his car without a word. I didn’t know where he was taking the body, nor did I need to ask. He was efficient when it came to washing his hands clean. So wherever her corpse ended up, I knew the Detroit police would never recover it. “Get at me, ace.” I threw my hand up at him.

  “No doubt,” he responded. Jerell was most definitely loyal, true to the game, and grounded when it came to reacting without emotion.

  “Come on, baby. By the sound of those sirens, the cops ain’t far at all,” Moni’s paranoid voice rang out. “We’ve gotta bust a move and fast.”

  Rushing to the truck, we both jumped in prepared to get out of dodge. With each second that passed, the sirens were getting closer. I couldn’t tell by ear if there was more than one squad car, but I didn’t want to be around to find out. Having murders under our belt along with a long list of other wrongdoings we’d pulled off, I was sure Moni and I were highly wanted. Arresting us for one charge would lead to many crimes being solved, which meant several years of jail time for us apiece. Fuck that option! With the car started and Moni yelling at me to pull off, I couldn’t hit the gas yet, and my nerves were rattled because Jerell still hadn’t driven away.

  “I can’t leave my ace with a dead body in the car, Moni. Fall back and be cool for a second. Everything is gonna be okay.” I tried sounding confident when in fact I wasn’t. The louder and clearer the sirens rang in my ears, the less I wholeheartedly believed we’d make a clean break.

  “Hurry up and get that piece of junk started and let’s go.” Moni slammed her hand on the dashboard, screaming at Jerell a
s if he could hear her. Hell, as loud as she was, he just might’ve. Shaking with paranoia, she was in the passenger seat going crazy. I’d never seen her trip out so hard, but I understood why. My girl was falling apart before my eyes.

  After a few more failed attempts at getting the car going and screams from Moni out the window at Jerell, the doom buggy turned over. It seemed like all three of us had a chance. The engine of his hoop ride sputtered a couple of times then finally became strong enough for him to pull off. By the time he whipped from his parking spot, Moni and I were revving up to burn rubber away from the scene. That’s when the cop car we’d heard bent the corner on two wheels, swerving up to Naughty’s apartment complex.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I shook my head, but I was trying to be cool. There was no way either of us could get away without passing the cops. I stalled to see what they were gonna do, because bringing attention to us was the last thing I wanted. But Jerell kept driving without wavering. Probably because he didn’t want his car to cut back off with a body in the trunk.

  Before both officers could climb out of their squad cars, a woman’s voice rang out. “There’s the shooters right there. They killed that poor girl and took her body.”

  The cops followed which way Naughty’s neighbor was pointing and screaming, with their stares landing on Moni and me. One of the cops lifted his weapon without hesitation and let off four quick shots toward the truck. The windshield shattered immediately.

  “Ahhh!” A bloodcurdling scream came from Moni’s mouth.

  Glancing over at her, I saw Moni wiggling in pain. She’d been shot. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. I might as well have caught one of those bullets. I didn’t have time to see how bad the wound was or hold my baby love. The feeling was horrible. “Hold on, baby. Don’t let that bullet or some bitch-ass cop stop you from marrying me. Be strong,” I howled at her. “We’re forever after, and this ain’t the end!”